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General discussionRevisit rainy Los Angeles with the return of the classic Blade Runner(275 posts)(275 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted December 17, 2019
The article has been moved to our blog. Read it here.
Post edited December 17, 2019 by emter_pl
Posted December 18, 2019
low rated
QUESTION- a few years back, GOG introduced something called "reclaim your game" where supposedly people who had purchased hard-copies of certain games would be able to "reclaim" them, ie, automatically receive digital editions. SUPPOSEDLY, more games were to follow, yet I have never seen this happen.

Yes, this question belongs here, as I happen to have purchased one of those original copies of Blade Runner! I still have the booklet, and the jewel case, all 4 discs in good condition. LOVED the game, never got to finish it, and now have one of those "modern systems".

In fact, I also own hard copies of Planescape Torment, Omikron, Septerra Core, the entire Leisuresuit Larry collection, Playboy Mansion, the entire Delta Force set, Lords of Magic Special Edition....and several other titles I have had to slowly buy BACK because they don't work...for example I own the Ultimate RPG Archives set, and yet if I wish to play any of them I need to once again purchase all three Bard's Tale's and the Construction Set, Stone Keep, and Dragon Wars, and Wizardry Gold...I have already repurchased the entire Ultima set, which I had purchased on disc with books and maps, and takes care of the Ultima Undergrounds, and I had to purchase the entire Might and Magic series in order to take care of the Xeen discs. Wasteland I FINALLY got for free, thank you Christmas deal!

I also own the entire Forgotten Realms and D&D classic collections, and manuals, and yes I still have the stupid code wheel too for that PITA protection scam.

When are these going to go to a "reclaim your game"? When and where can I send the serial numbers for all the games I have paid for that first went to abandonware, and now are being resold with at times little more than a preconfigured DosBox to run them??? Even then, I don't mind sometimes paying for a game again, as long as the age of the game and actual value are taken into consideration...after all, I repurchased the entire Tex Murphy set, AND the new one...but some of these games really are no longer worth charging $5-10 bucks for, let alone a "sale" price...especially when the orignal hard copies are owned already! It isn't the CONSUMER'S fault that technology improved, and it isn't the CONSUMER'S fault that the game companies refused to update their games for modern systems...maybe GOG SHOULD get something for doing so, but...really....you're charging in effect 2-3 times what some games cost, because you are splitting up the "archives", for example, when the hard copies were sold together...such as the Forgotten Realms Archives, which were all in ONE set, with ONE thiick manual, a couple code wheels, and containes ALL the games up to Menzoberranzen !

Maybe for 2020, GOG will consider revisiting this GAME RECLAIM? Or start dropping the prices on everything dated 1999 and under?
Posted December 18, 2019
high rated
avatar
wolfenspiel: QUESTION- a few years back, GOG introduced something called "reclaim your game" where supposedly people who had purchased hard-copies of certain games would be able to "reclaim" them, ie, automatically receive digital editions. SUPPOSEDLY, more games were to follow, yet I have never seen this happen.

Yes, this question belongs here, as I happen to have purchased one of those original copies of Blade Runner! I still have the booklet, and the jewel case, all 4 discs in good condition. LOVED the game, never got to finish it, and now have one of those "modern systems".

In fact, I also own hard copies of Planescape Torment, Omikron, Septerra Core, the entire Leisuresuit Larry collection, Playboy Mansion, the entire Delta Force set, Lords of Magic Special Edition....and several other titles I have had to slowly buy BACK because they don't work...for example I own the Ultimate RPG Archives set, and yet if I wish to play any of them I need to once again purchase all three Bard's Tale's and the Construction Set, Stone Keep, and Dragon Wars, and Wizardry Gold...I have already repurchased the entire Ultima set, which I had purchased on disc with books and maps, and takes care of the Ultima Undergrounds, and I had to purchase the entire Might and Magic series in order to take care of the Xeen discs. Wasteland I FINALLY got for free, thank you Christmas deal!

I also own the entire Forgotten Realms and D&D classic collections, and manuals, and yes I still have the stupid code wheel too for that PITA protection scam.

When are these going to go to a "reclaim your game"? When and where can I send the serial numbers for all the games I have paid for that first went to abandonware, and now are being resold with at times little more than a preconfigured DosBox to run them??? Even then, I don't mind sometimes paying for a game again, as long as the age of the game and actual value are taken into consideration...after all, I repurchased the entire Tex Murphy set, AND the new one...but some of these games really are no longer worth charging $5-10 bucks for, let alone a "sale" price...especially when the orignal hard copies are owned already! It isn't the CONSUMER'S fault that technology improved, and it isn't the CONSUMER'S fault that the game companies refused to update their games for modern systems...maybe GOG SHOULD get something for doing so, but...really....you're charging in effect 2-3 times what some games cost, because you are splitting up the "archives", for example, when the hard copies were sold together...such as the Forgotten Realms Archives, which were all in ONE set, with ONE thiick manual, a couple code wheels, and containes ALL the games up to Menzoberranzen !

Maybe for 2020, GOG will consider revisiting this GAME RECLAIM? Or start dropping the prices on everything dated 1999 and under?
Don't be so cheap and just buy the damn thing.
Posted December 18, 2019
avatar
wolfenspiel: QUESTION- a few years back, GOG introduced something called "reclaim your game" where supposedly people who had purchased hard-copies of certain games would be able to "reclaim" them, ie, automatically receive digital editions. SUPPOSEDLY, more games were to follow, yet I have never seen this happen.

Yes, this question belongs here, as I happen to have purchased one of those original copies of Blade Runner! I still have the booklet, and the jewel case, all 4 discs in good condition. LOVED the game, never got to finish it, and now have one of those "modern systems".

In fact, I also own hard copies of Planescape Torment, Omikron, Septerra Core, the entire Leisuresuit Larry collection, Playboy Mansion, the entire Delta Force set, Lords of Magic Special Edition....and several other titles I have had to slowly buy BACK because they don't work...for example I own the Ultimate RPG Archives set, and yet if I wish to play any of them I need to once again purchase all three Bard's Tale's and the Construction Set, Stone Keep, and Dragon Wars, and Wizardry Gold...I have already repurchased the entire Ultima set, which I had purchased on disc with books and maps, and takes care of the Ultima Undergrounds, and I had to purchase the entire Might and Magic series in order to take care of the Xeen discs. Wasteland I FINALLY got for free, thank you Christmas deal!

I also own the entire Forgotten Realms and D&D classic collections, and manuals, and yes I still have the stupid code wheel too for that PITA protection scam.

When are these going to go to a "reclaim your game"? When and where can I send the serial numbers for all the games I have paid for that first went to abandonware, and now are being resold with at times little more than a preconfigured DosBox to run them??? Even then, I don't mind sometimes paying for a game again, as long as the age of the game and actual value are taken into consideration...after all, I repurchased the entire Tex Murphy set, AND the new one...but some of these games really are no longer worth charging $5-10 bucks for, let alone a "sale" price...especially when the orignal hard copies are owned already! It isn't the CONSUMER'S fault that technology improved, and it isn't the CONSUMER'S fault that the game companies refused to update their games for modern systems...maybe GOG SHOULD get something for doing so, but...really....you're charging in effect 2-3 times what some games cost, because you are splitting up the "archives", for example, when the hard copies were sold together...such as the Forgotten Realms Archives, which were all in ONE set, with ONE thiick manual, a couple code wheels, and containes ALL the games up to Menzoberranzen !

Maybe for 2020, GOG will consider revisiting this GAME RECLAIM? Or start dropping the prices on everything dated 1999 and under?
Reclaim your game was extremely limited and phased out in favor of GOG Connect, which is now quietly being phased out in favor of the "just put everything in one launcher" thing that Galaxy 2 brings.
Posted December 18, 2019
ermagerd! so happy. i still have my original box copy. if i remember right it did hit the right atmospheric notes of the movie but had some wanky gameplay. still going to get it when funds allow. thanks gog!
Posted December 18, 2019
For any of the GOG team lurking this thread: overlay support is missing on the game's store page.
Posted December 18, 2019
From https://www.usgamer.net/articles/how-westwoods-long-lost-blade-runner-adventure-game-landed-on-gog:

"In emails with USgamer, GOG's business development director for the US offices Mark Hill emphasizes that Blade Runner has been one of the most requested games on GOG, dating back to its launch in 2008.

'For years everyone, including us, thought it was impossible to release due to scattered rights, technical issues, and lost source code,' Hill tells USG. 'But we never gave up and kept looking for even the smallest opportunities, like we did in the past with [the] Monkey Island series, Star Wars - Episode I: Racer, Diablo, Stranglehold, and other classic games.'"

"The infamous issue is the rights to Blade Runner itself. Hill says that GOG had been chasing the rights to Blade Runner for over 10 years, but couldn't make much progress. Both the game code and its IP rights were in a 'precarious situation' which made the release seem impossible.

But a few years ago, Hill says GOG got in touch with Alcon Entertainment, the production company that was working on Blade Runner 2049 at the time. 'I literally went over to their office and asked to talk to someone about Blade Runner and GOG,' Hill says, adding an aside: 'I don't recommend this.'

Alcon, as it turns out, was happy to help. It had the legal rights for Blade Runner, and entered a publishing agreement with GOG. Though it took a few more years to get everything in order-when asked how GOG and Alcon navigated the licensing issues, Hill says, 'If you knew I would have to retire you'-everything slid into place and GOG turned to the people working on ScummVM, a program for running classic point-and-click adventure games on modern computers, to get Blade Runner running."

"Luckily, one community member had already started the recreation process eight years ago. 'He started by tinkering with the code and digging up unused or cut out content, like dialogue lines or entire story branches,' Hill says. The final team was a group of four people who collaborated to make the game playable on modern operating systems, but even then, you would need the original discs.

Once the legal obstacles cleared, the ScummVM team helped get a version put together that could go live on GOG. ScummVM had already worked for past games like the Monkey Island series, Broken Sword, and Myst. Blade Runner was fully in the ScummVM team's wheelhouse. Though the current build is based on the original box edition with applied fixes-the source code is, as far as anyone can tell, still lost-ScummVM allowed the team to apply fixes and get the game working on Windows 7, 8, and 10, as well as Linux and Mac OS X."
Posted December 18, 2019
avatar
Swedrami: the source code is, as far as anyone can tell, still lost
Thanks for sharing the story behind the process :)

It's literally a double meaning behind the fact that it's a lost art. http://deadendthrills.com/future-imperfect-the-lost-art-of-westwoods-blade-runner/:

"What’s worse, you’d have to find them to start with, which might well require a time machine; stored on magnetic platters, most of Blade Runner vanished when Westwood was liquidated by EA in 2003. Lost, you might say, like tears in rain."
Posted December 18, 2019
avatar
tomimt: I did a review of Blade Runner long before GOG had it. Here's my ancient blog entry about the great game that has stood the test of time remarkably well:

https://playernone.blogspot.com/2015/11/great-games-blade-runner.html
avatar
toxicTom: Nice review, thanks for sharing :-)
Thanks, I'm just so damned happy that BR is again easily attainable for new players. Now more broken installers under modern OS's, just smooth sailing.

That said, the game itself worked flawlessly under Win10 even without ScummVM the last time I played it from my old discs. The only thing it had broken was the installer, which had to be replaced with a fan-made one.
Posted December 18, 2019
high rated
Since it looks like the ScummVM folks put in a lot of work, unless GOG asks me to delete this, you might consider buying the game via the link supplied in this ScummVM thread to give them a small commission.

I'm thinking of making a separate thread too for this, it depends on how GOG is likely to react to having the "commission" link so easily accessible.
Post edited December 18, 2019 by tfishell
Posted December 18, 2019
avatar
tfishell: Since it looks like the ScummVM folks put in a lot of work, unless GOG asks me to delete this, you might consider buying the game via the link supplied in this ScummVM thread to give them a small commission.

I'm thinking of making a separate thread too for this, it depends on how GOG is likely to react to having the "commission" link so easily accessible.
I really hope the ScummVM team gets a commission from games packaged with their work here anyway.
Posted December 18, 2019
low rated
this game drags less than that new movie, rite?

that was teh one i was dragged to go see an' it was naht a good fit, i mean atall

slow, ponderous, drearily melancholy, an' had far less to say than it thought it did, over far moar time
plus i mean i just dont like that genre
friend was on probation for that ;P
Posted December 18, 2019
Holy Moly, missed this yesterday!

Completely unexpected, and with no regional hikes as far as I can tell; cheers a bunch.
Sadly, the taxman and a bunch of bills already got their share, so it'll have to wait a while.


Also, hat's off to the ScummVM team for pulling it off, and still working on getting all the hidden/cut content back into the game; amazing job!

I was also going to post the referral link as I think that the ScummVM team is entitled to some of the money from the sales (hopefully they got some monetary compensation for all their hard work already), but I see that tfishell beat me to it. And it'd be super nice if those purchasing the game, use their referral link.
Posted December 18, 2019
avatar
tfishell: Since it looks like the ScummVM folks put in a lot of work, unless GOG asks me to delete this, you might consider buying the game via the link supplied in this ScummVM thread to give them a small commission.
I've used it twice now so I really hope the link works :D
Posted December 19, 2019
O-M-G! I thought this will never happen! First Warlords I-III and now Blade Runner! Christmas came early this year!
Posted December 19, 2019
I was in the process of sourcing dinosaur PC parts just so i could play this game again LOL. Im glad now i dont have to go through the trouble anymore.
Pages:
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5
10
14
15
16
17
18
19
This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionRevisit rainy Los Angeles with the return of the classic Blade Runner(275 posts)(275 posts)
(275 posts)